7 Days Zhangjiajie & Guilin Landscapes

Welcome to Zhangjiajie, home to some of the most surreal landscapes on Earth. Upon arrival, your guide will transfer you to your hotel in the Wulingyuan scenic area, the gateway to the national park. Settle in and take an evening stroll through the nearby town, where local vendors sell spicy Hunan snacks and handcrafted souvenirs. For dinner, try chairman Mao's favorite dish — red-braised pork belly — at a local restaurant. Travel tip: purchase a walking stick from a street vendor; it will be your best friend on tomorrow's mountain trails.

Enter Zhangjiajie National Park and ride the glass Bailong Elevator — the world's tallest outdoor lift — up through the vertical quartz-sandstone pillars to Yuanjiajie. Walk the suspended pathways of the Avatar Hallelujah Mountains, named after the film that drew inspiration from this very landscape, and pause for photographs at the famous Southern Sky Column. After a picnic-style lunch with views of the pillar-studded valley, continue to Tianzi Mountain, known as the Monarch of the Peak Forest. In the evening, enjoy a spicy Hunan dinner back in Wulingyuan with dishes like chopped pepper fish head and smoked tofu. Travel tip: arrive at the park gate by 7:30 AM to beat the queues at the Bailong Elevator.

Begin the day with a walk across the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Glass Bridge, the world's longest and highest glass-bottomed bridge, suspended 300 meters above the canyon floor. Feel the thrill of looking straight down to the lush gorge below through the transparent panels. After lunch at a canyon-side restaurant serving local Tujia minority dishes, spend the afternoon hiking along the Golden Whip Stream, a serene path winding past crystal-clear pools, mossy boulders, and playful wild monkeys. For dinner, sample spicy hot pot at a lively restaurant in town. Travel tip: wear non-slip shoes on the glass bridge and avoid looking down if you have a fear of heights.

Rise early for the Tianmen Mountain cable car — one of the world's longest aerial tramways — gliding over the city of Zhangjiajie and up through mist-wrapped peaks to the summit. Walk the stomach-fluttering glass skywalk bolted to a vertical cliff face, then climb the 999 steps (or take the escalator tunneled through the mountain) to Heaven's Gate, a colossal natural rock arch that feels like a portal to another world. After descending via the famously winding 99-bend road — a ribbon of asphalt with 99 hairpin turns snaking down the mountainside — enjoy a late lunch of spicy Hunan-style stir-fried pork with peppers near the cable car station. Transfer to Zhangjiajie Hehua Airport for your afternoon flight south to Guilin, where a driver collects you for the short transfer into the city center. In the evening, take a relaxed stroll around Shanhu Lake (Banyan Lake) and pause at the twin pagodas — the Sun and Moon Pagodas — whose golden and silver reflections shimmer on the still water after dark. Travel tip: book your Tianmen Mountain cable car ticket for the earliest time slot; the queue can stretch to two hours by mid-morning.

Board a comfortable riverboat at Guilin's Zhujiang Pier for the full-day Li River cruise — one of China's most iconic journeys — as the boat slips away from the city into a gallery of limestone karst peaks that rise like petrified waves from the jade-green water. Watch the scenery scroll past like a living scroll painting: Water Buffalo Gorge, Mural Hill, the steep 400-meter pinnacle of Nine Horse Fresco Hill, and the scene immortalized on China's 20-yuan banknote at Xingping. A simple lunch of Guilin rice noodles and stir-fried river fish is served on board as the boat glides past ancient fishing villages and water buffalo cooling themselves in the shallows. Arrive in Yangshuo by mid-afternoon and check into your hotel in this backpacker-charming town, then take a free hour to wander West Street before the evening's spectacle. After dinner, attend the breathtaking Impression Sanjie Liu — a monumental outdoor light-and-sound show directed by Zhang Yimou (the filmmaker behind the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony), performed on the Li River itself with the karst peaks as a natural backdrop and over 600 local villagers as performers. Travel tip: sit in the upper section for the best panoramic views of the show's epic scale.

Start the day as Yangshuo does best — on two wheels. Pedal along the narrow country lanes that weave between karst pinnacles, past dragon fruit orchards, lotus ponds, and rice paddies where water buffalo watch you pass with sleepy eyes. Stop at the ancient Yulong (Meet-the-Dragon) Bridge, a 600-year-old stone arch that reflects perfectly in the calm river below, and watch bamboo rafts drift by. After cycling back to town for an early lunch, board your vehicle for the scenic 2.5-hour drive to the Longji Rice Terraces — the Dragon's Backbone — where tier upon tier of sculpted rice paddies climb the mountainsides in sinuous curves, a masterpiece of agricultural engineering tended by the Zhuang and Yao minority peoples for over 650 years. Hike up to a viewpoint pavilion and watch the late afternoon light trace gold and green ribbons across the terraced slopes. In the evening, enjoy a dinner of bamboo-tube rice, smoked bacon, and wild mountain vegetables at a Zhuang minority guesthouse perched on the terraces themselves. Travel tip: the terrace paths are stone but uneven — sturdy walking shoes are essential.

Savor a final Guilin breakfast — a steaming bowl of mifen (Guilin rice noodles) with sour bamboo shoots, pickled long beans, fried peanuts, and a spoonful of chili, just as the locals eat every morning at streetside noodle shops across the city. If time permits before your flight, stroll through Seven Star Park or pick up last-minute osmanthus-scented cakes and painted landscape scrolls at Zhengyang Pedestrian Street. Transfer to Guilin Liangjiang International Airport for your departing flight, carrying with you a gallery of images: the quartz pillars of Zhangjiajie piercing clouds, the glass bridge suspended over emerald canyons, the Li River unfurling through karst cathedrals, and the Dragon's Backbone terraces carving gold ribbons into the hills. Travel tip: Guilin Airport is compact but busy — arrive two hours before departure to navigate security comfortably.